THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



conditions. Or, again, these conditions have also 

 changed in the meantime, and we observe to 

 our surprise a new animal form, which is still 

 in many points like the old one, but also adapted 

 to the new conditions. What has happened? 

 This sketch, according to Darwin, represents in 

 principle the entire evolution. The conception 

 of better "adaptation" includes also mental prog- 

 ress, brain evolution, and in this way a road 

 leading from amoeba up to man produces the 

 entire line of descent which we have been trac- 

 ing. To explain this line of march would be 

 equivalent to explaining the steps from an amoeba 

 to a man. And Darwin attempts this explana- 

 tion. 



The first archetype propagated its kind. This 

 offspring consisted of individuals which, for some 

 reason or other, were not entirely alike. They 

 were all individuals, differing more or less, just 

 as the children of some parents differ among 

 human beings, just as the offspring of plants 

 differ, and just as a brood of rabbits have dif- 

 ferent colors. These variations represented 

 either an advance or a retreat compared to the 

 characters of the archetype. Some of the off- 

 spring were superior to their parents, others 

 were average individuals, and still others were 



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